XCOM 2 Cheats & Cheat Codes for PC, PlayStation 4, and More

XCOM 2 is a 2016 turn-based strategy game, developed by experienced studio Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The sequel to 2012’s series reboot XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it received rave reviews upon release for the ways it expanded on the formula that the original game practically perfected.

XCOM 2 was initially released as a PC exclusive, and it was only months before it released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A Switch version arrived in 2020, too. Praise was reserved for how the strategy formula translated to consoles, especially considering the genre is at home on PC.

XCOM 2 Premise

XCOM 2 places you 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown, with the war against the aliens well-and-truly a losing battle. Your role in this is simple. Complete missions across the world to fend off alien attacks, eventually pushing them away entirely.

Prior to every mission, you find yourself in control of the Avenger, an alien ship repurposed for human needs. Here, you’ll invest time and resources into research and engineering projects which make your battles across the world easier. For example, you can bring alien corpses back from missions and perform autopsies, gaining greater knowledge about their anatomy than ever before. You can then use this information to create weapons that are much more effective against alien flesh. On the Avenger, you can head to the Barracks and check in on your soldiers, assigning their skill points and classes to best fit your needs in battle. The Avenger is also where you decide where to go next, with your decisions crucial in Earth’s chances of survival. This is arguably where much of the game’s depth comes from, as you’ll feel the weight of your decisions reflected in every single combat encounter.

The combat itself is deceptively simple. You and your soldiers are dropped in to a warzone, with a mission objective assigned at the start. These objective can be anything, from rescuing a prisoner to simply eliminating all alien presense. Adding to the stress, some of these missions have a time restraint. This means you can’t always be as tactical as you’d like. At the beginning of most levels, you won’t have any information on where the aliens are located, nor them on you.

Fog of War restricts your vision to what your soldiers see, so you must move carefully to ensure you get the jump on them. When combat begins, all bets are off. The turn-based combat assigns you a set of action points, which you and your team use up in every turn. You have to really think about every decision, as it could be your last. Death is permanent, too. If one of your soldiers falls on the battlefield, you’ll have to replace them at the Barracks with an up-and-comer.

What’s perhaps most interesting, is that XCOM 2 allows you to fail. It doesn’t reward failure, but it’s not Game Over if you do. If all of your soldiers die on a mission, it’s considered a mission failure, however it just becomes a natural part of the narrative, and the game factors that in. It’s a brilliant system, because it adds another layer of difficulty into XCOM 2.

XCOM 2 Main Characters

Perhaps the feature that makes XCOM 2 most engaging is how it puts the focus on your squad throughout. In every single playthrough, you’ll have a brand-new squad, any of which can die at any time. You can carry one soldier from the very start of the game, and have them die on the right mission, after you’ve spent hours getting attached to them. This approach results in a versatile narrative, with no two playthroughs the same.

Because of how the story puts the focus on you and your squad, it doesn’t really give time to any other characters, besides the nameless scientists and engineers working on the XCOM project. Your squad are the main characters of XCOM 2, regardless of how long they manage to live on the battlefield.

XCOM 2 Titles in the Series

XCOM is a well-known name to fans of the strategy genre. Dating back to the 90s as X-COM, the series helped define what the modern strategy game looks like under the development of Mythos Games.

Just after the turn of the century, the franchise went dormant for over a decade. That was until 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown revived the games, and most importantly made players interested in them once again. We’ve seen a steady flow of titles from the XCOM franchise ever since. While we’re yet to see a fully-fledged sequel to XCOM 2 yet, the success of the games means it’s almost a certainty.

• X-COM: UFO Defense (1994)
• X-COM: Terror from the Deep (1995)
• X-COM: Apocalypse (1997)
• X-COM: Interceptor (1998)
• X-COM: First Alien Invasion (1999)
• X-COM: Enforcer (2001)
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013)
• XCOM: Enemy Within (2013)
• XCOM 2 (2016)
• XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (2017)
• XCOM: Chimera Squad (2020)
• XCOM: Legends (2021)

XCOM 2 Cheat Codes

Despite player choice being key to gameplay in XCOM 2, unfortunately cheat codes are not part of that experience. That’s right – there are no official cheat codes in XCOM 2.

PC players of the game have one massive alternative option available – console commands. Before you can use them, you must first activate the ability to use the in-game console. You can do this by heading to your Steam launch options for XCOM 2, and adding the code “-allowconsole,” after which you can open the console with the tilde (~) key.

Once you’ve enabled the console, first enter the code “enablecheats” once you’re in-game. Then, enter any of the following console commands to customize your in-game experience.

XCOM 2 Cheat Code FAQs

How Do I Use XCOM 2 Console Commands on Console?

Sadly, as is the case with many cases, you’re not able to use XCOM 2 console commands on console. They’re by far and away the most efficient way to cheat in the game. However, with no way to open the console on PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One, console players will have to repel the alien invasion the hard way.

How Do I Use Mods For XCOM 2?

If you’re on PC, you can use mods in XCOM 2 to add a variety of different content to the game that would otherwise be impossible. These can be small lore-friendly mods, all the way to total conversions that add soldiers from franchise such as Halo and Star Wars into the game. Sure, it doesn’t make much sense, but there’s no doubt that it’s a lot of fun!

If you want to download XCOM 2 mods, the best place to do so is over on Nexus Mods.

How Do I Enable The Console in XCOM 2 Without Steam?

If you own XCOM 2 on PC, but not on Steam, you can still enable the in-game console another way. Rather than doing it through your Steam launch options, head to the folder you’ve installed the game. This is usually C:\Program Files (x86)\XCOM 2. Then, move to the folder Binaries\Win64\Launcher.

From here, right click the file ModLauncherWPF.exe, and create a shortcut for it. Right click the shortcut, and press Properties. In the Properties menu, there should be a box that says “Target:” where you should add the phrase “-allowconsole.” Hit apply, and ensure that whenever you want to use console commands, you launch the game from the shortcut you’ve created. It sounds tedious, but really it’s just as easy as doing it on Steam.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©2K.